In a conventional automotive vehicle, pedals are provided for controlling brakes and engine throttle. If the vehicle has a manual transmission, a clutch pedal is also provided. These pedals are foot operated by the driver. In order for the driver to obtain the most advantageous position for working these controls, the vehicle front seat is usually slidably mounted on a seat track with means for securing the seat along the track in a plurality of adjustment positions.
The adjustment provided by moving the seat along the seat track does not accommodate all vehicle operators due to differences in anatomical dimensions. Further, there is growing concern that the use of seat tracks, and especially long seat tracks, constitutes a safety hazard in that the seat may pull loose from the track during an accident with resultant injuries to the driver and/or passengers. It is therefore desirable to either eliminate the seat track entirely or shorten the seat track to an extent that it will be strong enough to retain the seat during an impact. Shortening or eliminating the seat track requires that means be provided to selectively move the various control pedals to accommodate the various size drivers.
Various proposals have been made in the past to provide selective adjustment of the pedal positions to accommodate various size drivers but none of these prior art adjustment proposals has met with any significant commercial acceptance since the proposed mechanisms have been unduly complex and expensive, and/or have been extremely difficult to operate, and/or have accomplished the required pedal adjustment only at the expense of altering other critical dimensional relationships as between the driver and the various pedals.